CLSI eNews - 1 September 2007 (Plain Text Version)Return to Graphical Version | Search back issues | Print all articles In this issue: CLSI Volunteers Help Improve Tanzania’s Laboratories
Hospital Directors, Laboratory Directors, Laboratory Personnel, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, CDC Atlanta, CDC Tanzania, Permanent Secretary Mukama, and the CLSI GAP team at the Accreditation Workshop held on Monday, 6 August 2007 at the Kibo Palace Hotel, Arusha. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is continuing to develop clinical laboratory capacity in resource-limited countries as part of our cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in support of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This program focuses on enhancing laboratory testing practices and service in resource-constrained countries, thereby improving care and treatment for individuals living in HIV/AIDS-prevalent nations. In August, a team of five experts in medical laboratory quality system essentials (QSEs), including Carlyn Collins, MD; Sally Ondiek, MS, MT(ASCP); Michael A. Noble, MD, FRCP(C); Anne T. Daley, MS, MT(ASCP)DLM; and Sheila Woodcock, MBA, FCSMLS(D), visited Tanzania as part of the ongoing process to build laboratory capacity and assist Tanzania’s zonal laboratories in establishing a solid quality management system to ultimately achieve accreditation. They checked to see how the zonal laboratories were implementing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) that were developed by attendees at the February SOP workshop. During the workshop, CLSI consultants and local Tanzanian laboratory professionals utilized CLSI documents HS1—A Quality Management System Model for Health Care and GP2—Laboratory Documents: Development and Control for gap analysis.
CLSI GAP team in Tanzania. The primary goal of the August trip was to travel to the five zonal hospital laboratories and do a gap analysis of the sites. The zonal hospitals are the referral centers for each region, sometimes associated with a research laboratory or a university. These are the public hospitals; there is also a private hospital system. The CLSI team used the international medical laboratory standard document ISO 15189:2003, Medical laboratories – Particular requirements for quality and competence in assessing the existing quality system in each laboratory. Each zonal laboratory was also provided with the newest CLSI resource— The Key to Quality. At the zonal laboratories, team members focused on laboratory quality essentials and went through checklists to determine if the sites were documenting, implementing, and monitoring best-practice laboratory procedures and performance. They also raised awareness of the importance of hospital laboratories in the treatment and diagnosis of disease, particularly HIV/AIDS, to the zonal hospital directors. “The hospital directors were included in the process and they, too, now understand what their laboratories need to do and the support that will be required to achieve the goal of accreditation,” said Sheila Woodcock, Principal Consultant, QSE Consulting. This work helps the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Tanzania set a path for the laboratories to achieve global accreditation and recognition for quality management excellence. Laboratory accreditation is important because it ensures accurate test results doctors can use to help maintain a higher quality of life for patients with HIV/AIDS. Michael Noble from the University of British Columbia, the Senior Technical Advisor and Senior Laboratory Advisor for the team, said, “All of the laboratories demonstrated how far along the path they have been able to advance. Perhaps the most exciting step is to follow. We are going to be putting the project into hyperdrive, by providing mentors that will remain at each of the zonal laboratory sites for three months to assist the laboratory quality managers in integrating CLSI's quality essentials into their normal laboratory practice. Everyone is charged up about what this will do to move the process forward. What an opportunity for some CLSI volunteers.” Sally Ondiek, the Project Director of the team, said, “The upcoming three-month mentorships are great opportunities for volunteers to share their talents. This is an exciting project because you get to meet people in other countries who also want to deliver quality health care. It is enriching to learn from other cultures and gain skills from the interactions we have with the country’s laboratorians.” “The impact the CDC cooperative agreement is having on health care is already being seen. In the two years that we have been involved, we are already experiencing clear improvements in laboratory management. Laboratories are receiving positive feedback from physician users. Improved laboratories result in improved confidence in their results, and improved laboratory utilization. Better laboratories always result in better health care,” said Noble. “It has been rewarding knowing that we are making a real contribution to improving the quality of testing in the Tanzanian zonal hospital laboratories. Although Tanzania is one of the largest African countries, it is one of the poorest. The average life expectancy is 51 and the average national income is Tz Sh 360,000 or $360 (USD) (approximately) per year! However, it is a politically stable country that is growing the economy and has brought inflation down to less than 5% from a high of 15% less than a decade ago,” said Woodcock.
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